Experimental Contribution to the Evaluation of the Suicidal Risk of Depressive Patients

In view of the high incidence of depressions among suicide actions (30–50 %) and the high frequency of various types of depressions in the whole population (5–15 %), it was attempted to compare depressives with and depressives without suicidal thoughts and also patients after a suicide attempt, in order to identify the risk- or crisis-patient clinically and psychometrically. This risk-patient is characterized by depression, dysphoria, excitability and inhibition (FPI), restlessness, hopelessness, anxiety and irritability as well as a tendency to dissimulate. This syndrome was named ‘vital instability’. The environment can easily be the trigger or motive for a suicidal act in this disorder. This work shows that it is experimentally possible to accentuate this group by psycho-diagnostic means. A characterization by the circumstances and social parameters can be found; how far this is representative will have to be verified by further and more extensive examinations by means of the same methods.